Green Circle Growers Blog

The hallmark of American suburbia for decades, the well-manicured lawn is gradually giving ground to expansive gardens and mini-prairies filled with Asters, Rudbeckia (Brown-eyed Susan) and other native plants. The move to replace grassy lawns with flowering gardens was recently named the hottest new trend in yard landscaping by the American Society of Landscape Architects. Like tendrils of crabgrass slowly creeping into a thick, green blanket of Kentucky Blue grass, eco-gardening is gradually gaining favor with U.S. home owners. ...read more

New plants are beginning to arrive in local garden centers and gardeners are itching to see what’s new. Every year brings an exciting selection of new flowers and new variations on old favorites. Commercial growers are constantly working to produce plants that will provide maximum beauty with minimum care. Plants available this year promise longer-lasting floral displays, greater color variety and more robust foliage. In this year’s plant selections, gardeners will also be pleased to discover a wider variety of plants bred to be exceptionally heat- and drought-tolerant and disease- and pest-resistant, decreasing the need for watering, fertilizing and pesticide application. Less work for gardeners; kinder to the Earth. ...read more

Jack Frost has finally danced his chilly fingers through the garden gate and blown his frozen breath over those hardy late bloomers. The first frost turns gardens into a magical fairy land. Heuchera, also known as coral bells, acquire an icy white rim, and Asters appear to have been dipped in diamond dust, so brightly do they sparkle in the first rays of the sun. Unfortunately, the magic doesn’t last long. Heat from the rising sun quickly melts those frosty crystals, leaving behind a sodden mess. ...read more

When the other plants in your garden have turned brown and droopy and even the chrysanthemums are looking tatty, Asters (Aster) continue to star in the late fall garden. In fact, the name “Aster” is a derivative of the Greek word for “star.” Available from your local garden center in brilliant hues of deep fuchsia, bright white, sky blue, glowing lavender and royal purple, asters take the final bow before winter brings down its snowy curtain and the garden show is over for the year. ...read more

At night the Harvest Moon hangs low in the sky, the perfect backdrop for screeching black cats and broomstick-riding witches. Yep, Halloween is creeping up fast, and Mother Nature is doing her part to create the proper atmosphere! Soon, ghosts and goblins, ballerinas and super heroes, and dinosaurs and princesses will wander zombie-like along neighborhood streets, weighted down by plastic pumpkins stuffed with goodies, crying “Trick or Treat” as they ring every doorbell. ...read more

As gardeners know, to everything there is a season. Many gardeners focus on bright spring bulbs and graceful summer blooms but fail to consider what their gardens will look like when fall arrives. Failure to plan ahead will leave your autumn garden beds dull, brown and lifeless, sadly bereft of beauty. However, careful planning now will ensure that your garden remains filled with a bounteous display of colorful blooms all through the fall until winter’s frosty fingers tuck it in for winter sleep. ...read more

It’s never too late in the season to start exercising your green thumb. While some plants are best planted in the spring, most perennial plants will still have plenty of time to become established before winter’s killing frosts if planted in the late summer to early fall. Some perennials do not begin flowering until late summer when they revitalize gardens with new color and texture after summer blooms fade. These fall-blooming perennials will continue to brighten your garden until winter’s killing frosts arrive. ...read more

As we swelter through the final days of August, it's easy to
give up on the few heat-bowed flowers still struggling in the garden and turn
our thoughts to fall gardening chores and cooler weather. ...read more